This application proposes a Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). The goal of the OHSU MSTP will be to prepare individuals for successful careers as physician-scientists by providing intensive focused training in laboratory-based, hypothesis-driven, basic or disease-oriented research, leading to a Ph.D. degree, coupled with broad training in the theory and practice of medicine, leading to an M.D. degree. The program is designed to be completed in seven to eight years, and will consist of the initial two years of medical school interspersed with laboratory research rotations, followed by graduate school (including course work, the preliminary examination and thesis research), and then by the clinical years of medical school. There is sufficient flexibility in the curriculum to allow highly individualized training in order to meet specific career goals. Both the Ph.D. and M.D. degrees will be awarded to successful candidates at the completion of both components of the program. Scientific training will take place within the interdisciplinary graduate programs in biomedical sciences at OHSU. Faculty available as mentors for M.D-Ph.D. students are members of the Departments of Behavioral Neuroscience, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Cell and Developmental Biology, Molecular and Medical Genetics, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, and Physiology and Pharmacology. A rationale for the OHSU MSTP is that the need for skilled physician-investigators will continue to increase over the next decades as developments in "molecular-based medicine" have greater impact on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease. A robust and consistent institutional commitment, an enthusiastic and collegial research faculty, and a committed M.D-Ph.D. Committee actively involved in student selection, mentoring, and policy formation together will provide a strong foundation to ensure the success of this program.